Prof. Raghunathan studies the science of happiness and is a visiting faculty member at the Indian School of Business and writes a blog column for Psychology Today. He notes that while we all want to achieve happiness, we often pursue other things that don’t lead to it. He also notes the ‘Three Pillars of Happiness’ we should focus on:

Pursue meaningful work – Try to spend your energy in ways that are meaningful to you, at work or at home. From a career standpoint, Raghunathan recommends making passion a criterion for choosing your work: “you spend so much time at work you might as well make that a meaningful thing that you are doing in your life”. Perhaps this is not feasible for everyone at every point in their career, but it is surely a sound guiding principle, as it has been echoed by Steve Jobs, Thoreau, Gloria Estefan, and others.

Maintain close relationships – Most people consider the relationships they have developed with family, friends, colleagues, and others to be the most meaningful part of their lives. Relationships are investments that require time and attention, yet we are quick to downplay or dismiss them. Social science offers practical suggestions for improving relationships, such as: giving your brain a cooling off period when you are angry, seeing forgiveness as an integral part of freeing up your own mind, and cultivating face-to-face time in our mobile connected world.

Have a spiritual attitude – A strong sense of spirituality, whether religiously or otherwise based, has been associated with reduced stress levels, and we know we cannot be happy when we are over-stressed. There is also growing evidence that meditation practices have beneficial effects. In the MOOC, Prof. Raghunathan will have a couple of experts leading participants through the steps of the meditation process.